One of the most interesting Bible stories, ever!

We often play Balderdash as one of our games. Everyone is told some obscure word and has to write down a definition for it. We then read all the definitions, including the correct one, then everyone picks whichever they think it true. You get points if people guess your false definition or if you guess the correct one. We do the same this with a weird law too.

This week the word was: zufolo. Here are some possible definitions:

Caught Red-Handed!

Ever watch White Wolves? For those of you that haven't had the privilege, a group of teens and their leader go on a backpacking trip, very much like the wilderness trip, with less canoeing. Their goal is to get to the top of Eagle Rock. They eventually make it to the top and disaster strikes! Their trip turns into a rescue mission and they go through struggle after struggle on the way. Before they go, they trained for the trip. Some had prior knowledge on camping and hiking. There is also a ranger who gives them specific instructions, including that fires can only be made in designated areas. At one point, Benny has distanced himself from the group and makes a little fire on his own. Mr. B comes looking for him and catches him red-handed with this fire.

Last week we studied Judges 1, which is basically the political background of the book. This week we studied Judges 2, which we will see is basically the spiritual background of the book. An important thing to note, is the Judges is not chronological. So in chapter 1 we read that Joshua died and he's going to die again in chapter 2. Nothing funny is going on, we're just learning about the same events but with a different reason each time.

Inquire & Obey

I'm currently teaching on the book of Judges for the youth group Sunday school class. We normally spend half our time playing a game and the other half studying the Bible. The next few weeks, I will be posting my lessons and possibly a game or some funny tidbits that happen during the course of the morning.
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Before we take a look at the book of Judges, we need to get some background info so we know what's happening when we start reading chapter 1. In Numbers, the Israelites, God' chosen people, are wandering around in the wilderness waiting to enter the Promised Land. In Joshua, Moses dies and now Joshua leads the people into the Promised Land (Canaan). They fight many battles to acquire the land, yet there are many towns that are not completely taken over.

In Joshua 23-24, on his deathbed, Joshua challenges the people to remember all that God has done for them and their forefathers and to choose to serve the Lord. He reminds them that they cannot serve the Lord and foreign gods. Then he dies.

Now in Sunday School, we read a verse or two and then recap/discuss what's going on in those verses. So the rest of this won't make sense unless you open up your Bible to Judges 1 and read along with me.

I walk on the wild side, I laugh in the face of danger. Ha ha ha.

You ever play that movie game in the pool? you give the acronym for the movie title and every one else has to figure it out, race to you and make their guess? Well we did a Christmas song version of that for Sunday school. Without using any technological help, can you figure out the titles of these Christmas carols/songs?

1) OHN
2) ICUAMC
3) AIAM
4) COTB
5) H!THAS
6) OLTOB
7) TDOC
8) M,DYK?
9) JTTW
10) OCAYF
11) BOH
12) WCIT?
13) SN
14) AWHHOH
15) ICTD (Bonus points if you get this obscure one)
16) RATCT
17) WWYAMC
18) WC
19) FTS
20) JB
21) DTH
22) DTD

Is it right for you to be angry?

Jonah 4:1-4

Recap: Why is Jonah angry?

What are a few things that tend to make you angry?

1. ____________________________
2. ____________________________
3. ____________________________

When things happen, do you ever get angry at God?

Is it ok to be angry at God? (This is a question that raises lots of different opinions. People can have lots of opinions but that doesn’t help us out. We want to know what the Bible says about it. Here is a list of some different verses that talk about anger. Look them up and use them to come up with an answer to this last question… Is it ok to be angry at God?)

Second Chances

God doesn't have to give us a second (or third or fourth) chance at things. 

Can you think of any examples in the Bible where God doesn't not give a second chance?

Uzzah tried to save the Ark of the Covenant from falling on the ground and God struck him dead (2 Samuel 6:6-7). Ananias & Sapphira did some shady business, lying about the amount of money they had given and God struck them dead (Acts 5:1-11). Remember Lot's wife (Luke 17:32)? (The teens came up with many more examples than I did!)

Sin deserves punishment. At any point in time, when we disobey God, he could strike us dead as well. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). That sounds terribly daunting. A pretty high standard. One mistake and you're done.

Jonah's Prayer

Jonah's prayer in chapter 2 always confuses me. Jonah makes these comments about God's mercy and about his own depravity, but doesn't really get it. God offers His mercy to everyone and not just Jonah himself. But even if it's confusing, we can learn from it.

I often picture the great fish like Jaws or the crocodile in Peter Pan--just there waiting, ready to snatch Jonah up soon as he hits the water. However, that's not very accurate. Jonah talks about being wrapped in seaweed, sinking to the heart of the sea, and even seeing the roots of the mountains (Jonah 2:3,5-6). He hit the water and although the storm was calmed (Jonah 1:15), the water was still wild and Jonah sunk down deep. That's just one of those details I never noticed before.